


Ninety Degree Knitting

by friedlieb_ferdinand_runge



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Canon Universe, Drunk Derek Morgan, Drunk Emily Prentiss, Fluff and Humor, Gen, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Maybe - Freeform, Missing Scene, its not very good, not quite, started out as a crack fic, story telling, the team is really bad at listening to stories, these tags are longer than the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 04:52:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17718416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friedlieb_ferdinand_runge/pseuds/friedlieb_ferdinand_runge
Summary: Dave turned and looked at Aaron, “She taught you how to knit?”“It isn’t as hard as it looks,” Aaron shrugged.“That’s what she said,” Emily whispered. Derek laughed and clinked glasses with her.





	Ninety Degree Knitting

The team sat around Dave’s outdoor table, wine glasses in hand, and laughed at Spencer’s retelling of his and Derek’s elevator incident. Derek sat blatantly refusing the part where he ‘screamed like a little girl’.

 

“I’m just saying,  _ if  _ I did, it’s only because you freaked me out with all your elevator statistics,” Derek finished, crossing his arms like he’d won the argument. JJ and Emily exchanged a look and started laughing.

 

“I thought Spencer’s ‘geek talk’ didn’t scare you?” Emily challenged, nonchalantly sipping at her wine.

 

Penelope snorted at Derek’s betrayed look and shook her head, “Okay, okay, someone else tell a story before Derek’s eyes pop out of his skull.” 

 

JJ leaned forward, “Yeah Pen... tell us a story.”

 

“What?” Penelope looked around the table, “I’m awful at telling stories,” she said, giving JJ a ‘sorry chica’ look.

 

Emily shook her head, “Don’t worry about it, Hotch can help you!”

 

Aaron, content to listen and smile every so often, almost choked on his wine, “I’m sorry?”

 

“Yeah c’mon!” Derek said, joining in, “You two got stuck in Arizona with no gas or phone service for four hours and you’re not going to tell us what happened?”

 

Penelope waved her hand, “There’s nothing to tell, we are professionals, we know how to handle ourselves in stressful situations.”

 

She looked around at the six sets of eyes staring at her, “What?”

 

“Uh, you know we love you Garcia but…” Spencer started, he stopped and looked around for help, luckily, Derek picked up where he left off,

 

“You’re unprofessional-ness is what we love about you Baby Girl,” He said with a smile.

 

Penelope glared at him over her glass, “Look, we got in the car, drove an hour, ran out of gas and waited until a agent from the field office came and picked us up,” she interlaced her fingers and rested her chin on them, “See? Nothing to tell.”

 

“Oh but I think there was,” Dave pushed with a grin, he poked Aaron’s shoulder, “Let’s start with why the two of you were driving to the closest FBI field office instead of coming back with us on the jet,”

 

Aaron sighed and looked at Penelope, then back at David. He’d obviously given in, “It had been a long week,”

 

The team nodded, they knew that part. Memories of the case were still fresh.

 

“And the power went out,” Aaron continued. The others shifted into comfortable positions and fell silent, all their focus on Aaron.

 

\--------

 

Aaron woke with a start and sat up, he looked around the dark room and wrinkled his eyebrows. Looking down at his alarm clock, his eyebrows drew even closer together, the face of the clock was black, the time not showing.

 

He picked up his phone to check the time and threw off his blankets.  It was already eleven o’clock? He moved to the window and pulled aside the blackout curtains, squinting in the light.

 

Stepping back to his bed and opening his phone, he texted Dave to ask where they were.

 

Dave replied with a simple, ‘In the air, losing service soon.’.

 

Aaron supposed that’s what he got for running late, the rest of them were probably exhausted from the trip and too impatient to wait up.

 

\--------

 

“That’s not why we left you” Emily cut in. Derek elbowed her.

 

Aaron looked between the two, staring them down until Emily spoke again, “That rule you have, ‘if we’re more than an hour late we get left behind’?”

 

Aaron blinked a few times, “I don’t think I’ve ever enforced it,”

 

“Yeah but, we thought it’d be funny, prank the boss or whatever,” Derek admitted with a glare at Emily.

 

“You got everyone to go along?” Aaron asked, mostly talking about Dave. The former smiled and shrugged,

 

“It isn’t often the great Aaron Hotchner sleeps through his alarm,”

 

Aaron sighed, “Okay, the point is you were already gone, and I thought I would be driving to the field office alone,”

 

Penelope poured herself more whine. Aaron begrudgingly continued.

 

\--------

 

Someone knocked on his hotel room door and Aaron turned, hurriedly tucking in the dress shirt into the dress pants he’d slept in, then opened it. Penelope stood on the other side, looking very annoyed, despite that, she smiled,

 

“Good morning sir! Good to see you slept well!”

 

Aaron rubbed his eye, “Garcia?”

 

“Yes sir,” She waved a little, “The team is already on the jet as you probably know, I’m supposed to accompany you to the Arizona field office.”

 

She walked in the room and he closed the door behind her, “Did you draw the short straw?” 

 

Penelope blushed, “More like lost at poker,” she stopped, “I mean, I volunteered!”

 

\--------

 

“Wait wait, hold up, how did you know he was awake?” Derek said, hands in front of him.

 

Aaron stopped himself from telling him to just listen to the story and turned his attention to Penelope, who messed with one of her rings, “Uh, I may have put an alert on his phone so if he used it, I would know.” she looked at Aaron, waiting for a reprimand.

 

Instead, Aaron nodded in approval, “Because you knew the first thing I do in the morning is check my phone. Good profiling Garcia.”

 

She smiled, “Well, okay, thanks… continue?”

 

Aaron cleared his throat.

 

\--------

 

The two agents walked out the doors of the hotel. Aaron stopped at the back of the government SUV and opened the trunk. He threw his go bag inside and reached out a hand for Penelope’s luggage, she handed it over with a smile,

 

“So, how long is the drive?”

 

Aaron pulled himself into the drivers side of the vehicle, “Two hours if I’m remembering correctly,”

 

“Cool beans,” Penelope smiled as she buckled the passenger seat seatbelt.

 

Aaron just nodded and put the SUV into reverse, backing out of the parking space. They drove for a good thirty minutes before Penelope spoke, she pointed at the gas meter, “We’re getting low, I saw a station a couple miles back.”

 

Aaron looked at his watch and shook his head, “There’s another one in forty miles, we’ll make it fine,”

 

Penelope smiled, “Someone’s in a hurry to get away from his tech analyst,” at Aaron’s hurt face and lowered eyebrows, she shook her head, “That was a joke.”

 

She fell silent, staring at the knitting in her lap. Aaron bit his lip, “What are you knitting?”

 

Penelope’s face visibly brightened, “It’s a scarf for Reid! He always gets so cold,”

 

\--------

 

“Sir!” Penelope hissed. Spencer’s eyes widened,

 

“You’re making me a scarf?”

 

Penelope sighed dejectedly and nodded, “It was supposed to be a surprise for your birthday…”

 

Aaron looked at Dave, who nudged his head towards Penelope. 

 

“It was very well made Garcia,” He tried, “The purple was very nice.”

 

Penelope’s face turned from flattered to exasperated. Spencer smiled, seemingly unaware of Aaron and Penelope’s stare down, “I love purple!” 

 

“Okay,” JJ cut in, “What happened next?” her tone was patient, probably the same tone she used on Henry.

 

\--------

 

They drove for another thirty minutes when the SUV began to glide, Penelope looked at Aaron in panic, “What’s happening?”

 

Aaron had to use most of his will power not to wince and duck his head, “We’re out of gas.” he said simply, pulling to the side of the road.

 

“Oh my- didn’t I tell you?” She swallowed at his look and added, “...Sir?”

 

He got out of the SUV and moved to the back, when he opened it, he sighed and made a mental note to send in a request to put gas tanks in each vehicle provided by the BAU. Circling back around, he prepared to tell Penelope.

 

When he stopped explaining, he watched her reaction. Her eyes filled with tears, “But… it’s so hot! We could die of heatstroke before someone finds us! Or coyotes could get us! Are there coyotes in Arizona? Probably, right?”

 

\--------

 

“Hey! That is not how it happened!” Penelope said, pointing her finger at Aaron. 

 

Aaron wrinkled his eyebrows, “Wasn’t it?”

 

“No way, I never broke down, that was you,”

 

Emily licked her lips, “Hotch?  _ He _ broke down, not you?”

 

Penelope shook her head, “Okay, here’s what  _ actually _ happened,” 

 

\--------

 

Aaron had just finished explaining the situation. Penelope nodded, “Okay, it’s fine, we called ahead to the field office, if we aren’t there soon they’ll come looking for us.”

 

“How hot is it? Ninety degrees?” Aaron looked at the sky, “We could die of heatstroke by then, besides that, didn’t the sheriff say something about coyotes?”

 

Penelope put her knitting down, “Coyotes only come out at night sir,”

 

“Reid would know…” Aaron trailed off.

 

\--------

 

“It depends, when living in close proximity to humans, coyotes tend to be nocturnal but may also be active in the early morning and at sunset. In areas with little or no human activity, coyotes will hunt during the day, and when a litter of pups needs to be fed, they may have to hunt around the clock,” Spencer supplied, “But seeing as coyotes usually have pups in January through March and it’s June, you were relatively safe.”

 

Derek covered Spencer’s mouth with his left hand, the right one still holding his wine, “Shut up Reid,”

 

\--------

 

“We need to find shelter” Aaron said, pulling off his black suit jacket.

 

Penelope made a face, “Shelter? In the desert? Are you feeling okay?”

 

“I’m fine!” Aaron shouted back, making Penelope jump.

 

\--------

 

“I never yelled at her,” Aaron said defensively at the five agents glaring at him, “And I didn’t say shelter either.”

 

Derek, who was growing increasingly more impish the drunker he got, grinned, “So what did you do?”

 

\--------

 

“We need to find a cell phone signal,” Aaron said, pulling off his black suit jacket.

 

Penelope made a face, “I don’t think we’ll find one anywhere near here sir.”

 

“You’re right,” Aaron admitted, “So we just have to stick it out until help arrives.”

 

He moved to the passenger side and opened the door, holding his hand out for Penelope to take. She did, and joined him standing on the hard ground, “We’re not staying in the car?”

 

Aaron shook his head, “It would keep us from being sunburnt but we’d just get heat stroke faster.”

 

“Sunburns!” Penelope declared. Aaron lowered his eyebrows, 

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Penelope nodded and ran around the car, she opened the back and pulled her luggage bag close to her. She unzipped it and pulled out two parasols, “I knew Arizona would be hot, so I came prepared.”

 

Aaron took the one she handed him, “Why two?”

 

“In case the first on didn’t match my outfit!” Penelope said cheerily, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

“They’re both pink,” Aaron said, keeping a straight face.

 

“Oh! Uh huh, I see, so, are you going to get a sunburn that you’ll probably have to go to the hospital over or are you going to push down your toxic masculinity and gender role  _ bull crap _ and use the parasol?” Penelope admonished.

 

\--------

 

Emily grinned at her friend, “Yeah Garcia!” 

 

Everyone simultaneously shushed her.

 

\--------

 

Penelope lay down next to the SUV and let out a breath, “Hotch?”

 

From where he sat in the shade of the SUV’s door, Aaron twirled his parasol, “Yes?”

 

“Are we still on active duty?”

 

Aaron sat up and looked at her, “We aren’t back in Quantico yet, and we still have the car, so yes, I suppose we are.”

 

Penelope nodded, “So if we die here, they’ll say we died on duty, we’ll be heroes instead of examples on why you should always check your tank when you have the chance, even if your boss tells you it’s fine?”

 

Feeling particularly called out, Aaron set the parasol down on his lap and pulled at a stray string, “Yes, they’ll honor us as heroes instead of examples on why leaders should always take advice from their subordinates.” 

 

The sun was in his eyes, he couldn’t quite see Penelope’s expression but he guessed she was smiling, “How’s the knitting going?”

 

She laughed, “Are you really interested in knitting?”

 

“I’m not sure, I never learned how to do it well enough to know.” Aaron answered tiredly.

 

Before he knew it, Penelope was moving closer to him and shoving two knitting needles and a spool of red yarn at him, “I’ll teach you!”

 

“Garcia-”

 

“We really don’t have anything else to do sir, besides, I kind of want to be able to say I’ve taught you something,” She tilted her head, “Besides how to send group emails.”

 

Aaron smiled and let out a breath that was almost a laugh, “Okay, teach me,”

 

\--------

 

Dave turned and looked at Aaron, “She taught you how to  _ knit _ ?”

 

“It isn’t as hard as it looks,” Aaron shrugged.

 

“That’s what she said,” Emily whispered. Derek laughed and clinked glasses with her.

 

The others watched them for a few seconds before Penelope broke the silence, “You say that sir but…”

 

Spencer pulled his legs up close to him, mug of hot cider in his hand, “Are you saying Unit Chief Hotchner had a hard time getting the hang of knitting?”

 

Aaron glared at both him and Dave, “You know using my full title doesn’t make any difference, right?”

 

JJ snorted and waved a hand, Emily took that as her cue to fill her friends glass the rest of the way, JJ made a face at her and Derek, “Are you two drunk on wine?”

 

With a pat on her shoulder and a shake of his head, Derek dismissed her and turned to an amused Penelope, “So?”

 

\--------

 

“I don’t think I’m doing this right.”

 

Penelope laughed, “That’s because you’re not sir,”

 

Aaron let his hands go slack as he looked at Penelope, “Why aren’t you stopping me?”

 

“Learning something new is trial and error, sometimes you have to let people find their own path instead of correcting every move.” Penelope answered, holding up the scarf in front of her, “This scarf has a lot of mistakes, but I’ve never unraveled it to start again. Mistakes are part of everything and if you cover them up, what kind of person does that make you?”

 

Aaron stared at her for a good forty five seconds before smiling, “You are a wise woman Garcia.”

 

Penelope blushed, “Just keep going, you’ll get the hang of it,”

 

The sun didn’t seem so hot then, despite the pile of yarn on her lap. She wondered if it was getting later, or if she was getting used to it.

 

“My mother tried to teach me to knit once,” Aaron said, focused on the needles he was holding.

 

Penelope didn’t say anything, she did smile and nod, giving him leaway to either keep going or stop there. 

 

He chose the former, “We worked on these slippers for Sean, she did one, I did the other,”

 

“How’d it go?” Penelope asked softly.

 

Aaron, surprising Penelope, laughed. 

 

“Mine was three times the size of hers, but she didn’t mind. She told me that what mattered is I didn’t give up,”

 

“Wise woman,” Penelope said through a smile, using most of her willpower to stay focused on knitting. It didn’t surprise her when a few salty drops of water fell from her eyes to the soft purple yarn.

 

“Yeah,” Aaron nodded, “She was.”

 

\--------

 

Penelope stopped and looked at Aaron, who seemed to get the message that she wanted to tag off.

 

He waited for a few seconds, thinking the team would interrupt. He respected them even more when they didn’t.

 

\--------

 

Aaron wore the lopsided hat on his head, lines in the knitting going every which way. He folded his arms, “I think Strauss would approve.”

 

Penelope laughed, “Did you just make a joke? Oh my god, are we dying?”

 

Aaron smiled and looked down at the knitting needles in his lap, he handed them back to Penelope. She shook her head and pushed them back to him, “Keep them. As a reminder and in case you want to knit another hat.”

 

He watched as she turned and looked at the sky. They didn’t talk for a while but it wasn’t awkward like it had been before. It was a comfortable silence.

 

It was broken by a loud humming in the distance and the sound of wheels on the hard sandy plane.

 

Penelope stood, “Sir! It’s a car!” she started to wave, “We’re here! We’re right here!”

 

Aaron stood with her and began to wave. The large SUV pulled over next to them. A man jumped out, “Can I help you?”

 

Aaron pulled his badge out of his pocket and showed it to him. The man smiled, “I’ll be, I thought I’d have to drive a lot longer to find you,” he pulled out his own badge, “Agent Martin Oswin, Arizona field office.”

 

Penelope let out a breath, “Oh thank god,”

 

Martin reached through the window and pulled out two water bottles, “Here you are,”

 

They thanked him and took the water. Aaron had to stop Penelope from drinking it all in one go. He opened the passenger door for her and helped her in. As he moved to the back, Martin chuckled,

 

“Nice hat.”

 

Aaron reached up to pull it off, but caught Penelope’s eye in the rearview mirror. He lowered his hand and nodded, “Thank you, I made it myself.”

 

Martin whistled and Penelope laughed.

 

\--------

 

No one said anything. Penelope shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

 

“So…” Emily finally started, “Do you still have the hat?”

 

Derek, drunk and tired, started to laugh. Spencer stood, “We have an early day tomorrow, I think I’m going to drive Morgan home.”

 

JJ stood as well, nodding in agreement, “Yeah, I’ve got Emily.”

 

Derek and Emily both protested, eventually giving in and following their friends to the front of the house. 

 

Dave stood and smiled, “Good story.”

 

He waited until Penelope had said her goodbyes to turn to Aaron, “Do you?”

 

At Aaron's confused look he shook his head, “Do you still have the hat?”

 

Aaron smiled and bent down, picking up his briefcase, he opened it and Dave leaned over his shoulder. He smiled at the red hat and orange knitting needles inside,

 

“Good man.”

**Author's Note:**

> Uuuuhh, I don't know how much I like that ending. Oh well. I wrote this to clear my head so I can continue 'Creation', I hope you guys liked it!


End file.
